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Monday, March 24, 2014

Salted Egg Love at Irvin's Live Seafood House

For friends and family who would come to Singapore to visit, part of their list is to "eat chili crab and cereal prawns." Well, let me tell you one thing -- there's more to Singapore than Chili Crab and Cereal Prawns. True, you should have crabs and prawns while you're here but there are actually other crab options especially if you have a low tolerance for spicy food like me.

I remember when we just moved here, we would hear our friends saying that there's this really good seafood restaurant called Irvin's Live Seafood House in Ang Mo Kio, up north and really far away from where we live. It has been on my list for more than a year and finally we got around to checking it out thanks to our friend A who came to visit and was craving for salted egg seafood.

The group got together and despite the distance, we all made the journey to Ang Mo Kio after work one Friday night. Irvin's is known for their Salted Egg Sauce so much so that they have dedicated a full spread of Salted Egg dishes in the menu. Ohh my mouth waters at the mere thought of it. *droool*

The best way to start your meal at Irvin's is to have a plate (or two) of their Salted Egg Potato Chips (S$12.80). Perfectly fried potato chips which were well-coated with Irvin's signature Salted Egg Sauce. It was so delicious that our two plates were quickly polished off within minutes.

This was followed with a plate of Salted Egg Enoki Mushroom (S$12.80) another starter that I highly recommend. For some reason, fried mushrooms are popular here in Singapore but I have to say that Irvin's has one of the best that I've tried as it was once again coated with the creamy, salty Salted Egg Sauce. I was impressed that the actual presentation is exactly similar to what was in the menu. One thing that not a lot of restaurant could stick to.

We actually have more sinful dishes lined up so to balance everything off, we had the Minced Meat Eggplant (S$12.90) which was served in a claypot. I only had a small piece of the eggplant as it's not one of my favorite vegetables yet I appreciated how flavorful it was and the minced meat was really yummy as I topped my rice with it.

Then came the star of the show -- The Ultimate Golden Salted Egg Crab (S$52). Since we were a big group of 10, we got 2 huge crabs to satisfy everyone's cravings. I was impressed at how HUGE the claw was. It was cooked and perfectly coated with the signature Salted Egg Sauce and despite that, Irvin's made sure that the crab meat itself was sweet and tasty. It was heaven for me. I really enjoyed this dish very much and I will definitely go back for more.

Those who are not big fans of crab can also try the Claypot Pumpkin Prawn (S$17.80) which was also one of my favorites. I love the sweet pumpkin sauce and the prawns were big and juicy too. The thing is, there's just about 4-5 pieces per order so big groups or prawn fans will definitely have to get more than one.

Of course, what's all these indulging without rice right? Plain rice would perfectly complement the overly flavorful dishes that we had but we also tried the Yang Chow Fried Rice (S$7.90) which wasn't so bad too. Then again, I'd still recommend that you get Plain White Rice to fully appreciate the Salted Egg sauce and more.

Oh, what a delicious dinner at Irvin's Live Seafood House. This is definitely now part of my list of go-to places where I will be taking visiting family members out to eat. I can't wait to go back to have more Salted Egg Crabs, Potato Chips and the Claypot Pumpking Prawns. Yummm!!

By the way, for those who want to bring home their Salted Egg Sauce, you actually can! They are selling it per jar but be sure to keep it refrigerated and to consume it quickly as I don't think they make use of any preservatives for this.

Irvin's Live Seafood House is located at 4 Jalan Leban, Upper Thomson Road, Singapore. Call them at 6836-5020.The best way to get there via public transportation is to take the MRT to Ang Mo Kio (red line), walk towards the Bus Interchange and take bus 169 until opp Sembawang Hill Food Centre (approx. 7 stops).